Is Your Career Going Downhill?

You may not have heard of him, however, you may have heard of the athlete that he coached to the first ever Olympic gold medal for snowboarding. The athlete was Ross Rebagliati and the coach was Tim Griffin

This past weekend, Tim graduated from medical school and was president of his graduating class. Tim grew up with a passion for skiing and the outdoors, and always wanted to be a professional coach. The door opened for him to help coach the national snowboarding team from 1995-1998. He was inspiring young men and women to follow their dreams and passions and in return he was challenged personally.

It caused him to asked himself what he was truly passionate about and what could he do with all of his heart and energy? In a recent interview, Tim said "watching someone do what they can do better than anyone else in the world is very very inspiring"

When Tim met his now wife, she was a physician. He noticed her working very very hard but she always came home with a look on her face that said she had made a difference that day.

I was really struck with this story. How others seeking out their best can inspire and encourage each one of us to pursue what we are truly best at. It is also interesting to see how Tim can use the same set of talents in a new arena and I would suggest he will also have "Gold Medal" results.

He is really looking forward to family medicine and his ability to get to know his patients and to make a difference in their lives. As Tim says, "Find out what you're really good at and go and do it with all your heart and with all your energy"

Tim is heading up a new mountain.

Along the road with you...

Do You Need A Career Autopsy

Autopsy is not a word that slips out of our mouths that easily in today's world for a variety of reasons, most likely because we don't really want to think that someday we are going to die. Autopsy's really came into vogue (if you can say that) in 1761 with a scientific paper published by Dr Giovanni Morgagni who did over 700 autopsies and produced the first modern thinking on cause and effect of disease.
By the early 1950's, autopsies were performed for over 50% of deaths. They played a key role in helping doctors, through trial and error, pioneer heart surgery and better understand cancer and other major causes of death. However, now the autopsy rate has decreased to less than 20% of deaths due to the use of MRI's etc.

Dr George Lundberg points out in his 1998 study that in 25-40% of cases in which an autopsy is conducted, an undiagnosed cause of death is revealed. Dr Lundberg spoke about one particular family that thought their Mom had Alzheimer's disease, when in fact she suffered from a series of strokes. The result is that heir children will now pay more attention to their cardiovascular health, and are not worrying about themselves getting Alzheimer's.

Sometimes you have to get under the knife to get the heart of the matter (no pun intended). It is only when you "dissect" the problem that you can start to understand the big picture and get the proper response. The good news with the work we do is that you don't have to go under the knife. Although you may have to say "Awww"!


Along the road with you...

20 Career Lessons From Those Under 20

I thought this week that I would share with you a program that you may or may not be aware we are a part of. The program is Top 20 Under 20, a national program that recognizes Canada's most innovative contributors to our society who also happen to be under the age of 20.
I was one of the judges and we are providing career assessments to each of the 20 young people. They are doing our Student Career Option Program, which is an in-depth analysis of their talents and passions through a unique process to point them in the right direction as far as education and career choices. It is one of the most exciting things that I have been a part of in a long time.

Here are some of the neat things that they have accomplished:

James Valitchka-age 10, Ottawa ON; wrote a best selling book "Superheroes Don't have Dads".
Shazeen Suleman-age18, Cambridge ON; Founder of MusicBox Children's Charity; helping children to learn music.
Michael Thibodeua-age17, Middleton NS; Founder of Musicians For Visually impaired.
Stephanie Subject-age18, Vancouver BC; started a program to deal with Youth Suicide and Drop out rates.
Gabriel Rodrique-age16, Sainte-Blandindine QC; founded his own internet marketing company.
Sarah Small-age 17, St. Johns NFLD; Inventor of Tea- rrific skin, an environmental-friendly product.
Shamin Mohammed Jr-age16, Toronto ON; started a children's AIDS health program.
Marne Beeston-age17, Hanna AB; Founder of Summer Slam,a music summer school.
Stephanie Dotto-age 18, Kirland QC; raised $35,000 for school in Malawi.
Ryan Hreljac-age 13, Kemptville ON; raised over 1million dollars for wells for 142 different projects.
Joseph Lavoie-age 8 , Queen Charlotte City B.C; started Joes Bottle Depot which collects over 1.5 million bottles per year.
Wojciech Grye-age 18, Thornhill ON; Founded Five minutes to Midnight ..a voice for youth on international issues.
Daniel Jammer-age 15, Kelowna BC; started Digger Boy a landscaping company.
Edona Caku-age 19, Toronto ON; Started a program to donate over 4000 books to her hometown in Albania.
Joseph Liu-age 16, Scarborough ON; Founder of SMARTs a mentoring program for technology and Science.
Cheryl Perera-age 19, Richmond Hill ON; worked in Sri Lanka dealing with child prostitution.
David Wen-age 17, Surrey BC; started If Your Away a workforce of young adults who do tasks when you are out.
Jasmine Tait-age 17, Ottawa ON; Inventor of a pens system for people with Tremors.
Florind Polo-age 17, Toronto ON; Founder of a student run initiative to protect children against violence.
Chelsea Takalo-age 19, Toronto ON; Co-Founder of SEYA a program for youth advocacy and political awareness.

During our workshop, one of the participants James said, "I can't wait to get out of bed, drink my milk and get on with my day". At the age of 10, James has a lot of things figured out. He's got the "TGIM"-Thank Goodness It's Monday mindset.

Check out the website www.Top20under20.ca and put your hands together for some young people who are accomplishing amazing things. You are never too young-nor too old.


Along the road with you...